ISTANBUL: Suspected Kurdish militants attacked a Turkish military bus on its way to a naval base in the western province of Izmir on Thursday, media reports said, and a police official said several people were wounded.

Some reports said one soldier was killed and four soldiers were wounded in the attack. The rear windows of the military vehicle were blown out and emergency services sealed off the scene on a country road, television pictures showed.

Dogan news agency said Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels had detonated explosives on the road before opening fire on the bus at around 8 am (0500 GMT) near Foca, a small resort town on the Aegean coast where there is a naval base. The soldiers returned fire, it said.

The wounded soldiers were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, Dogan said.

A police official in Izmir said several people were wounded and investigations were continuing.

Attacks on military vehicles are common in south-east Turkey, where the PKK has fought a 28-year separatist insurgency, but are rare in western Turkey.

The PKK took up arms against the state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. -- AGENCIES